Svartárkot Culture – Nature programme
The Svartárkot Culture – Nature (SCN) programme focuses on the diverse interactions between humans and nature, inspired by the Svartárkot farm in Bárðardalur valley in northern Iceland. The programme is managed by a group of independent scholars and scientists partly affiliated with the Reykjavik Academy, in cooperation with Svartárkot’s farmers and local communities as well as cultural, scientific and educational organizations in the contiguous areas of Akureyri, Bárðardalur valley and the Myvatn lake district of northern Iceland, in close collaboration with international networks such as the North Atlantic Biocultural Organization, the Nordic Network for Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies and the Humanities for the Environment Circumpolar Observatory. Six interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary signature academic courses for postgraduate students and early career researchers have been held in the SCN programme between 2007 & 2018 and the project has organized a number of other courses for student groups from individual universities in the USA and the UK. Typical features of these courses are wide international participation of students and guest lecturers from a range of fields in the arts, humanities, social sciences and natural sciences, balanced with close contacts and participation of local stakeholders in the Northern Icelandic region. The courses are intended to provide invaluable transdisciplinary training of early career researchers to help meet the needs of future sustainability challenges.
